


In want of a kitchen

by ThebanSacredBand



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Cooking, Extra Gift, Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-20 20:35:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22549360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThebanSacredBand/pseuds/ThebanSacredBand
Summary: In which two lonely rebels cook together
Relationships: Poe Dameron & Leia Organa
Comments: 14
Kudos: 28
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 5





	In want of a kitchen

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nemainofthewater](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nemainofthewater/gifts).



It’s a little-known fact that General Leia Organa isn’t all that great a cook.

It shouldn’t be surprising, really. After all, she was raised a princess. She hadn’t needed to learn, she’d had people to do it for her. During in the height of the rebellion, she’d had more important things to do. Even when she was stuck on the Falcon, Han, Luke and Chewie were all far more competent than she was.

She had eventually learned to cook with Ben. She had loved it. _They_ had loved it. Cooking and creating things together. It didn’t even matter if their creations were underdone or slightly burned or downright inedible. It was spending time with each other that made it so special.

And now Ben is gone.

It’s mid-afternoon on a day that Leia has been press-ganged into taking off when there comes a knock on her door. It slides open to reveal young Commander Poe Dameron, Shara and Kes’ son, smiling sheepishly.

He doesn’t look panicked, or hurried, so Leia’s going to assume that this isn’t some emergency meeting she’s been summoned for. She raises her eyebrows at him.

“Hi, general, um, ma’am. I was just wondering if I could borrow your kitchen?”

Her eyebrows climb higher on her face, giving him the unimpressed look she’s know she’s perfected after years of practise. “And you can’t use one of the communal kitchens because…”

He raises a hand to scratch the back of his head, reminding her suddenly, with a pang through her heart, of Han. She misses him. She wishes he would come home. “I may have caused a small fire that has led me to be banned from all the communal kitchens. Indefinitely. It may have been several fires.”

“And why do you think I’m going to let you use mine after telling me that?”

“Because I’m dashingly good looking? And also because you’re bored because you were forced to take a day off?” She snorts internally. Yes. He’s far too much like Han for his own good.

“Bold of you to assume I don’t have other things to keep me occupied.” She moves to the side sweeping her arm towards the kitchenette. “Come in.”

Poe doesn’t move, blinking. “Wait. Are you serious?” She raises an eyebrow at him. “I. Wow. Thank you. General. Ma’am.”

“You can call me Leia, Poe,” she says as he finally walks past her, “I’ve known you since you were little. Only when we’re off-duty, mind you.”

She intends to turn back to reading reports on her holo-pad, but the lingering knowledge that he might blow up her whole apartment keeps her hovering behind him as he starts pulling ingredients out of a bag he brought with him. That’s all it is.

And it’s worth it, apparently, when she’s able to put out the first small fire that appears before it really starts.

Poe looks crestfallen. “Oh, kriff, I’m so sorry, General.”

She gives him a smile, and she’s almost surprised herself at how genuine it feels. There’s so much stress around lately (who is she kidding, there always has been), that each time she has smiled recently it has felt a little less real than the last.

“Don’t worry about it, Poe. Do you mind if I come and join you?”

“I, uh, be my guest. It’s your kitchen ma’a- Leia.”

She smiles again, and moves to join him.

It feels like being with Ben again.

Eventually, they are finished. They just have to wait for the food to cook.

“I- Leia. Thank you.” His shoulders seem lighter than they did when he arrived at her door.

“It’s no problem, Poe. I had a lot of fun. It was a good way to relax.”

“No! I mean, yeah, it’s just –” he runs a hand through his hair “– it’s just that I always used to cook with my mom, you know.” He shrugs. But yes. Somehow, she does know.

Without thinking about it, she pulls him into a hug. He is stiff for a moment, before he relaxes into her, his grip tightening.

The food isn't great, in the end, but it's not as though it matters.

Poe Dameron. Best pilot in the galaxy. Former small-time spice dealer. Not a good cook. _Really_ not a good cook.

He tries his best. His heart’s in the right place. But that doesn’t change the fact that he’s been banned from all resistance kitchens indefinitely.

All resistance kitchens, _except_ for the general’s.


End file.
